With 100 days left until the 2020 election, it's clearer than ever that Pennsylvania's voting laws need to improve

All views expressed here are my own and made entirely on my own behalf.

Register to vote in PA here (deadline is 10/19): https://www.votespa.com/Register-to-Vote/Pages/How-to-Register-to-Vote.aspx

Apply for a mail ballot in PA here (deadline is 10/27): https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Mail-and-Absentee-Ballot.aspx

Sign up to do voter protection or poll watching work in PA here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnTCfu_qnh4kJhWQyXKC-8pzSDXAWyTXYAXniem0JpSGBEsg/viewform


With 100 days left until Election Day 2020, many states and localities are scrambling to figure out how to handle voting in a pandemic. The necessity and surge of mail-in voting in many communities has overwhelmed some municipalities that have never administered an election like this in the past. At the same time, what has also become clear is just how inaccessible voting is for many Americans.

We mourned civil rights icon and U.S. Congressman John Lewis' passing last week as a country. But we have never fully lived up to his vision of fair, just, and equitable voting laws for all Americans. Of course, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented massive progress in this struggle. As Lewis himself continually implored though, the work did not end there.

The U.S. Supreme Court's dangerously anti-democratic Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013 opened the door for states, where disenfranchisement historically undermined democratic elections, to enact sweeping, restrictive voting laws. That Congress, in response to this ruling, has yet to pass any restoration of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (including a new map to establish which states should get pre-approval from the Justice Department) is a shameful reflection on our democracy.

Sometimes though, the barriers to voting can be more pernicious and mundane than the kinds of restrictions that the Shelby County decision allowed to happen. Here in Pennsylvania, though we never saw our voter ID law enacted, we still suffer from inequities that give us election results that do not always reflect the true intent of the people.

For instance, Pennsylvania has no in-person early voting. In many other states, even traditionally red states, voters can actually go to their polling place weeks before Election Day and cast a ballot and avoid the long lines of Election Day itself. Not only are long lines a concern that can be avoided possibly with early voting but also many citizens may have important personal, professional, or medical obligations on the day of the election that would make it hard for them to vote on the day itself.

Pennsylvania also lacks same-day voter registration, another feature that some red states even enjoy. The benefit of same-day registration is that it can ease access to voting and increase turnout. Pennsylvanians who often work time-consuming, demanding jobs to make ends meet as they work to meet their individual and family obligations may overlook the need to initially register or change their registration if they move. Same-day registration can help ease those burdens so that more citizens have a greater ability to exercise their rights.

In Pennsylvania, generally speaking, if you vote by mail, your ballot must be received by the county bureau of elections by the close of polls on Election Day -- a difficult task if your ballot was not even delivered until the day before, as happened to many voters in the primary. Election Day itself is also not a state holiday so many workers may find it impractical to vote in the 7 am to 8 pm hours.

Unlike a handful of states that moved in the right direction, Pennsylvania also lacks automatic voter registration. Thus, citizens have yet another barrier to being able to exercise their right to vote as they must go through the registration process.

It is true that Pennsylvania very recently has made great strides in improving voting access. Act 77, passed in 2019, makes it such that any Pennsylvania voter, no excuse needed, can apply for a mail ballot.  You can also now apply for mail ballots online. Governor Wolf, during the primary, extended the deadline for some counties for mail ballots to be received after Election Day itself.

You can also now, thanks to the Wolf administration, register to vote online. Under Act 77, counties also have set up drop-off locations for mail ballots that are set up for several days before the election; they also can have mechanisms in place at their elections offices to allow people to walk in and vote via mail ballot right there and then at the county elections office.

However, these reforms are insufficient. If we want to honor John Lewis' legacy and protect the integrity of our democratic process, we can do more to make voting fairer and more accessible. That way, we can have a more representative government that is truly reflective of its people. The core principle of consent of the governed is at the heart of the American democratic experiment.

John Lewis understood this and his commitment to equality for all people underpinned his activism. We must embody that same activism in pushing our state legislature in Pennsylvania to enact greater reforms. One way we can see to it that that happens is by electing progressive candidates on November 3 who will advance such policies. With 100 days out, our work is cut out for us but the possibilities are as exciting as ever.